I have skimmed the ThinkTank as well as Tektonics and I have yet to find an answer for my question. I'm sure I'll find some way to be satisfied by the time I get an answer from you, but it'd still be great to hear your response because we all know you do not give 'shallow, that's how it is' answers. I'm a firm believer in the Word of God - 100% and that is where I base my faith. Here are my apologetic questions:
In Matthew 27 I have been presented with a problem. Matthew 27:9-10 says: Then what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me". Yet where is that found in Jeremiah? Was Matthew confusing Jeremiah with Zechariah? In Zechariah 11:12-13 it says "I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter" - the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter."
How can that be if all Scripture is God-breathed & written through the Holy Spirit? Your thoughts?
I didnt have time to
write up an answer, so I just did the research and posted the source
quotes for the person:
"Jewish scholars could cite some texts while simultaneously alluding to others. Matthew here quotes Zechariah 11:12–3, but by attributing it to Jeremiah he also alludes to a similar text that he wishes his more skillful readers to catch (Jer 32:6–0; cf. 19:1–, 10–1). (The quotation is almost verbatim, and it is unlikely that Matthew would have known the text so well yet attributed it accidentally to the wrong author, unless he is using a list of standard messianic proof texts instead of citing directly from Zechariah, or he is purposely “lending”texts, as I suggest here.) Zechariah 11:12–3 refers to the low valuation God’ people had placed on him; they valued him at the price of a slave (Ex 21:32). [IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament]
"Matthew viewed these events as the fulfillment of a prophecy of Jeremiah. But the prophecy Matthew quoted was primarily from Zechariah, not Jeremiah. There is a close resemblance between Matthew 27:9-10 and Zechariah 11:12-13. But there are also similarities between Matthew’ words and the ideas in Jeremiah 19:1, 4, 6, 11. Why then did Matthew refer only to Jeremiah? The solution to this problem is probably that Matthew had both prophets in mind but only mentioned the “Major”prophet by name. (A similar situation is found in Mark 1:2-3, where Mark mentioned the Prophet Isaiah but quoted directly from both Isaiah and Malachi.) In addition, another explanation is that Jeremiah, in the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Bathra 14b), was placed first among the prophets, and his book represented all the other prophetic books. [Bible Knowledge Commentary]
"(x) According to Brown, Death, p. 651, ‘he most plausible [explanation] is that in 27:9–0 Matt is presenting a mixed citation with words taken both from Zech and Jer, and …he refers to that combination by one name’ Jeremiah 18–9 concerns a potter (18:2–; 19:1), a purchase (19:1), the Valley of Hinnom (where the Field of Blood is traditionally located, 19:2), ‘innocent blood’(19:4), and the renaming of a place for burial (19:6, 11); and Jer 32:6–5 tells of the purchase of a field with silver.
"We accept solution (x), for not only was it common practice to substitute part of one verse for part of another, that is, to create conflated citations, but, in early Christian circles, such citations were sometimes attributed to one rather than two sources. Mk 1:2 attributes Mal 3:1 + Isa 40:3 to Isaiah. Rom 9:27 assigns Hos 2:1 + Isa 10:22 to the same prophet. Mt 2:5– attributes to ‘he prophet’a quotation from Mic 5:2 + 2 Sam 5:2 = 1 Chr 11:2, and 21:5 prefaces its conflation of Isa 62:11 and Zech 9:9 with ‘he word through the prophet saying’ Mt 27:9–0 is one more example of this phenomenon. That Jeremiah is named rather than Zechariah (who is never assigned a quotation in the NT despite several citations) may be due to the prominence of the former or to his reputation as the prophet of doom or to Matthew’ desire to call attention to what might otherwise be missed (whereas the use of Zechariah is obvious; cf. Senior). The effect in any event is to prod us to read Zech 11:13 in the light of Jer 18:1ff. (the allegory of the potter) and 32:6– (Jeremiah’ purchase of a field with silver). [International Critical Commentary]
"The theme of blood money picks up the idea of guilt for the blood of the prophets in 23:29–6, which reaches its climax in 27:24–5. Judas, unable to offload his guilt by returning the money, hanged himself; but the chief priests, by using that same blood money to buy the potter’ field, were also implicated. The Field of Blood (Akeldama) is traditionally located in the valley of Hinnom (from which potter’ clay was dug). These and other hints in Matthew’ wording suggest that he understood the whole story in the light of Je. 19:1–3, where the valley of Hinnom is linked with burials and ‘innocent blood’and with a potter. Other passages in Jeremiah may also be in mind (the potter’ house in Je. 18; buying a field in Je. 32).
"So it is appropriate that the story reaches its climax (9–0) in a formula-quotation, allegedly from Jeremiah, about using blood money to buy a potter’ field. The words quoted are in fact most closely based on Zc. 11:12–3, with its mention of ‘thirty silver coins’(see on 26:15) which are mysteriously thrown down in the house of the Lord ‘o the potter’ The money in the Zechariah passage is the insulting price at which the God-given shepherd (Messiah) is paid off by his rebellious flock (see on 26:31 for other allusions to this strange prophecy). This is not, however, a simple quotation of a single passage but a subtle weaving together of themes from Jeremiah and Zechariah in the light of the events just recorded. The ‘fulfillment’Matthew here traces is something much richer than the simple occurrence of a predicted event. [New Bible Commentary]
"While commenting on
what happened to Judas Iscariot and
his blood money, Matthew introduces a reference to the prophets as part
of his
favorite theme of the fulfillment of Scripture. He clearly cites
Jeremiah as
the prophet who gave the saying, but the saying itself is from Zechariah 11:12–3. Did Matthew make a
mistake?
The quotation is not entirely a quotation of Zechariah. The majority of the quotation does come from Zechariah 11:13, but there is a change from the first person singular (“” to the third plural (“hey”. Furthermore, there is no field mentioned in Zechariah (in fact, in Matthew the NSRV follows the Syriac translation and has “he treasury”instead of “he potter”because Matthew clearly is not quoting Zechariah about the location). Finally, Zechariah does not include the phrase “s the Lord commanded me.”
Second, Jeremiah is also involved with potters (Jer 17:1–1; 19:1–3—n this second passage he purchases something from a potter). Furthermore, Jeremiah purchases a field (Jer 32:6–5), although the price is seventeen pieces of silver rather than thirty. Finally, Jeremiah 13:5 has the phrase “s the Lord commanded me”(RSV) (which also has to do with a purchase).
In the first century the Old Testament did not come as a bound volume with chapters and verses. Instead, the work was a series of scrolls. Shorter books were often put together on a single scroll. For example, Zechariah would be part of “he Book of the Twelve,”a single scroll containing all twelve minor prophets. There were paragraph divisions, but they were not numbered. It would be after a.d. 1500 before chapter and verse divisions and numbering were introduced. That means that Jesus in Matthew would have cited an Old Testament passage simply by the name of the author.
When it came to interpreting the Old Testament, it was common to bring passages together based on words they had in common (this is the second of Hillel the Elder’ seven rules of interpretation). In this case, it is clear that Jeremiah and Zechariah have several words in common, especially potter and shekel. Probably potter is the key term. As even the English reader might suspect from the information above, the quotation in Matthew is really Zechariah mixed with several phrases taken from Jeremiah. Again, we need to remember that while this may not be an acceptable way of citing Scripture today (although it is still done by accident!), it was a perfectly acceptable technique in the Palestine of Matthew’ day. (Matthew was probably written in Syria or northern Palestine; he is certainly focused on the Jewish community. Thus he reflects the usage of Scripture in such communities.)
What we have, then, is Matthew pulling together at least two texts in Jeremiah with one text in Zechariah to show that there was a type of biblical prefiguring of Judas’ actions, down to the amount of blood money and the fact that it was given to a potter and was used for the purchase of a field. While the logic of this type of exegesis is strange to the modern Western way of thinking, it would have been viewed as quite normal in Matthew’ time. Likewise it was normal for Matthew to cite the more important prophet, Jeremiah, despite the fact that most of his material came from Zechariah. Thus judged by first-century standards, Matthew is quite accurate and acceptable in what he does. [Hard Sayings of the Bible]